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Old 07-07-2011, 07:49 AM
 
72,816 posts, read 62,127,610 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orthosophy View Post
keep in mind that cedar falls is a college town, and reputation aside, the neighborhood to which I just moved in Waterloo is (in general) about 10 time as aesthetically pleasing. In CF you have the landlords who legitimately do no want to spend more than they have to, and college kids who don't really care what their housing looks like, and thus about every 5th house (especially around the college) looks a tad rough.

As a younger guy, I lived on the corner of independence and Nevada, which was not FIRMLY in the ghetto, but it was close enough. As someone else said, if you go looking for trouble, you will find it. I minded my own business, and people generally left me alone. Where im at now (right by west high) actually seems to be a more personable neighborhood than the one in which i lived in CF (right by CFH).

Its my opinion that factional violence has more to do with our bad reputation...we have a lot of black, serbian/boz, hispanic, and increasing numbers of Laotian/thai/indian/other minorities. Whenever you have different cultures colliding you have violence, and it seems that much of the crime is intra-factional (mexican on hatian, for example).

I could be wrong.

I do miss small town Iowa, but thats me, not waterloo.
Intra-factional would actually mean "Black on Black" or "Mexican on Mexican".
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Old 07-07-2011, 11:39 AM
 
48 posts, read 115,488 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner View Post
Intra-factional would actually mean "Black on Black" or "Mexican on Mexican".

In this case that's what I meant.

People tend to lump all hispanics in to "Mexicans" and anyone remotely slavic into "Bosnian." What they forget is that while we lump them by language or whatever, they still have intrafactional issues within the communities we identify.

Gang violence is a good example. Unfortunately, we have some gang issues.
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Old 07-07-2011, 12:08 PM
 
72,816 posts, read 62,127,610 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orthosophy View Post
In this case that's what I meant.

People tend to lump all hispanics in to "Mexicans" and anyone remotely slavic into "Bosnian." What they forget is that while we lump them by language or whatever, they still have intrafactional issues within the communities we identify.

Gang violence is a good example. Unfortunately, we have some gang issues.
Maybe being in the Atlanta area, maybe I have a different perspective of crime. As far as race goes, I have been victimized by both Blacks and Whites. To me, Waterloo isn't nearly as violent as parts of Atlanta.
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Old 07-07-2011, 02:55 PM
 
48 posts, read 115,488 times
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I get you. Sorry i'm confusing.
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Old 07-07-2011, 07:40 PM
 
72,816 posts, read 62,127,610 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orthosophy View Post
I get you. Sorry i'm confusing.
How are you confusing?
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Old 07-12-2011, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Bettendorf, IA
449 posts, read 1,387,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slynnm57 View Post
It is amazing what people think of Waterloo because of first impressions. I am from Waterloo and attend the University of Iowa in Iowa City. I always was asked questions about gangs and crime. In all honesty, I have never witnessed that, I grew up on the nicer side of Waterloo, and was never surrounded by that. There is a lot of diversity, but in a way I feel like many other Iowans (especially from smaller towns) are very ignorant with the societal issues of today. I feel fortunate to have grown up in such a diverse city because I know how to treat people with whatever they bring to the table.
Growing up on the nicer side of a town that, quite frankly, has a reletively small number of minorties does not really qualify anyone as being knowledgable of "societal issues". Try lving in Anacostia in D.C., Watts in L.A., or closer to Waterloo, the Quindaro district in Kansas City, KS. Someone coming from those areas will truly have a strong appreciation of societal issues due to their exposure to diverse cultures.
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Old 07-12-2011, 02:07 PM
 
11,289 posts, read 26,065,670 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WyoEagle View Post
I have heard various stories on Waterloo regarding crime as well. I do have relatives there. From what I have gathered it is a pretty blue collar town. I think John Deere or some major company there (I can't remember the name) closed its doors and a lot of people are unemployed. I have heard some bad things about the high schools.
Rath Meatpacking closed its doors in the 1980's and put 2,500 people out of work. At the same time Deere severely curtailed their employment and put another 10,000 people out. That had a HUGE effect on a city of 75,000 people. Around 15% of the population up and left during this time, and the city as well as the state suffered greatly. It certainly wasn't just Waterloo who did poorly during this time, almost all the cities shrunk and the economy was in tatters. It's actually because of that shock of the 1980's that the economy and the state's budget have been able to stand up to this recession. The state went through what had happened 25 years ago and built in safeguards to help protect against it happening again.

Waterloo has stabilized since those days 25 years ago, but it never regained its shine and optimism. It seems now to just kinda "exist".
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Old 07-23-2011, 09:34 AM
 
Location: Bettendorf, IA
449 posts, read 1,387,585 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicago60614 View Post
Rath Meatpacking closed its doors in the 1980's and put 2,500 people out of work. At the same time Deere severely curtailed their employment and put another 10,000 people out. That had a HUGE effect on a city of 75,000 people. Around 15% of the population up and left during this time, and the city as well as the state suffered greatly. It certainly wasn't just Waterloo who did poorly during this time, almost all the cities shrunk and the economy was in tatters. It's actually because of that shock of the 1980's that the economy and the state's budget have been able to stand up to this recession. The state went through what had happened 25 years ago and built in safeguards to help protect against it happening again.

Waterloo has stabilized since those days 25 years ago, but it never regained its shine and optimism. It seems now to just kinda "exist".
Same thing in the Quad Cities in 1982-83. Deere laid off a few thousand people to streamline their operations and become more efficient although the company is by far and away the area's bigest employer. Caterpiller closed down their entre plant in North Scott. JI Case closed down the Bettendorf plant and laid off 80 percent of their workers in East Moline. The Farmall tractor works in Rock Island also closed its doors. In all the area lost over 18,000 jobs, mostly high paying union jobs, and they never came back.

The Quad Cities just kind of hangs in there. The population has stablized but I know Davenport has not built a new school since the late 1970s or early 1980s; reflects heh stagnant population growth. Even Bettendorf, which mot people agree is the best town to live in the area, hasn't grown much. The metro is just nubs.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:33 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,784 times
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I live in Waterloo's west side close to downtown and let me tell you that I am fed up with the crime. My street is barricated off because of drug traffic. My house has been burglerized 3 times now and just the other day I heard gun shots leaving for work at 3:00 in the morning. The only reason why Waterloo's murder rate is so low is because the Gangsta's can't afford real guns. Also not to mention the house next to mine is aboandon and boarded up. I'm just waiting for that house to collapse on mine.
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Old 06-21-2012, 09:51 PM
 
44 posts, read 182,923 times
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Waterloo gets a bad rap. Yes, parts of the east side are less than desirable (to most) but there are a lot of good parts to the city. The downtown area has gone through a bit of revitalization, with new restaurants and shopping popping up on both the east and west sides. There is the 5 Sullivan Brothers center which brings in various events, the Grout Museum (great for kids), the Waterloo Center for the Arts (playhouse and symphony), many lovely churches, a synagogue, and a new mosque (on the border of CF/Wloo- not sure where it is technically), a nice golf course, and more.

Yes, the city has a lot of blue collar workers- is that necessarily a bad thing? In my book- employment either blue or white collar is a desirable thing.

You have the Waterloo airport, which is a small regional airport, but you can often get great rates out of there. The Cedar River is good for fishing and enjoying a sunny afternoon. There is also good access to the highways system which puts you 2 hours from DSM, 4 hours from MSP, 5 hours from Chicago, and 5 hours from St. Louis or KC.

Also- My Waterloo Days, Farmer's Markets, enjoying lower cost housing, etc. etc. etc.

You're also bordering Cedar Falls which offers shopping (main street and mall), University (events and culture), and a massive network of bike trails.
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